Boxing , The retirement of World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight titleholder Vitali Klitschko (Ukraine) on Nov. 9, 2005, ended an uneventful year for the sport’s so-called glamour division, which had been in the doldrums since the retirement of Lennox Lewis (U.K.) in 2004. Klitschko, who won the vacant title by knocking out Corrie Sanders (S.Af.) in 2004, suffered a series of injuries and did not fight at all in 2005. He announced his retirement after having surgery to repair his right knee, which was injured while training for a bout with former champion Hasim Rahman (U.S.). The WBC subsequently awarded the title to Rahman.

World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight titleholder John Ruiz (U.S.) made two defenses. He lost a 12-round decision to James Toney (U.S.) on April 30 in New York City, but the result was later changed to “no contest” when Toney tested positive for steroids. The title reverted to Ruiz, and Toney was suspended for 90 days and fined $10,000. Ruiz filed a $10 million lawsuit against Toney, claiming that despite having gotten the title back, he had incurred significant financial damage as a result of Toney’s use of an illegal substance. Ruiz’s suit was believed to be the first case of one professional athlete suing another for using a performance-enhancing drug. Nikolay Valuev (Russia) won a controversial 12-round decision over Ruiz on December 17 in Berlin to take the title. At 2.13 m (7 ft), Valuev was the tallest boxer to win a major title. Chris Byrd (U.S.) made a solitary defense of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) title, winning a 12-round decision over DaVarryl Williamson (U.S.) on October 1 in Reno, Nev. The lacklustre bout was widely criticized as one of the most boring heavyweight title fights of all time.

Antonio Tarver (U.S.) regained recognition as the world’s top light heavyweight with a 12-round decision over former IBF champion Glen Johnson (Jamaica) on June 18 in Memphis, Tenn. None of the alphabet organizations’ belts was on the line because Tarver and Johnson had refused to allow the organizations to dictate whom they should fight, but the match was recognized as a world title bout by The Ring magazine and the majority of the boxing industry. (SeeSidebar.) Tarver’s next bout was a rubber match with former champion Roy Jones, Jr. (U.S.), whom he had lost to in a close decision in 2003 and then knocked out in a 2004 rematch. The third Tarver-Jones bout, on October 1, drew a capacity crowd of 20,895 to the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., and the pay-per-view television broadcast sold to approximately 405,000 households. Although it was one of the most financially successful bouts of the year, it was a relatively tame fight, which Tarver won in a unanimous 12-round decision.

IBF super middleweight titleholder Jeff Lacy (U.S.) impressed critics and fans alike with a trio of successful defenses. On March 5 he scored a seventh-round knockout of Rubin Williams (U.S.) in Las Vegas. Lacy followed on August 6 with a seventh-round knockout of former WBC titleholder Robin Reid (U.K.) in Tampa, Fla., and on November 5 finished the year with a second-round knockout of Scott Pemberton (U.S.) in Stateline, Nev.

Undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins (U.S.) lost his titles to Jermain Taylor (U.S.) in a controversial 12-round bout on July 16 in Las Vegas. The 40-year-old Hopkins, who won the IBF belt in 1995 and unified the title with successful WBA and WBC title bouts in 2001, started slowly, rallied in the late rounds, and lost in a split decision. Taylor and Hopkins fought again on December 13 in Las Vegas, and again Taylor won a close but unanimous 12-round decision in a lacklustre bout that attracted approximately 410,000 pay-per-view customers.

The attempted comeback of Félix Trinidad (P.R.) came to a sudden halt when he lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Ronald (“Winky”) Wright (U.S.) on May 14 in Las Vegas. Wright, a skillful, defensive-minded southpaw, easily controlled the match and gave the favourite a one-sided boxing lesson. The pay-per-view event sold to approximately 510,000 households and generated $25.5 million in revenue, which helped to make it the largest-grossing match of the year. Less than two weeks after the fight, Trinidad retired again.

On June 4 Ricky Hatton (U.K.) scored one of the year’s biggest upsets when he forced unified junior welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu (Australia) to quit on his stool at the end of the 11th round of their bout held in Manchester, Eng. Hatton was a popular boxer in the U.K., and his bout with Tszyu drew a capacity crowd of 22,000. Hatton defended the title (and added the WBA belt) with a ninth-round knockout of WBA titleholder Carlos Maussa (Colom.) on November 26 in Sheffield, Eng.

By far the most spectacular fight of the year was the lightweight title bout between WBC titleholder José Luis Castillo (Mex.) and Diego Corrales (U.S.) on May 7 in Las Vegas. It was a toe-to-toe battle from the start, with both men landing numerous flush punches in every round. The bout was very close as the 10th round of the scheduled 12-round fight began, but when Castillo twice knocked down Corrales with left hooks to the head, victory for the Mexican boxer seemed imminent. On both occasions, however, Corrales spit out his mouthpiece as he went down. Although he was penalized for doing so, the delay caused by having the mouthpiece retrieved, washed, and replaced gave him extra time to recover. When action resumed and an overeager Castillo went for the finish, Corrales caught him with several hard blows to the head that rendered Castillo helpless and prompted the referee to stop the fight and declare Corrales the winner.

The nature of the Corrales-Castillo fight and the controversy surrounding the ending led to a much-anticipated rematch on October 8 in Las Vegas. This time the controversy came before the bout started, when Castillo failed to make the lightweight-division weight limit. Although Corrales’s WBC title would not be at stake, the fight went on as scheduled after Castillo was fined $120,000 of his $1.2 million purse—half of the fine money went to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and half was given to Corrales. Although it was another give-and-take affair, Castillo dominated and knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook to the chin. Negotiations began almost immediately for a rubber match in 2006.